Not an act of terrorism

Bavaria: Man (58) drives car into group of people

A group of people celebrating were hit by a car - five of them suffered minor injuries

(Bild: APA/dpa/Patrick Seeger (Symbolbild))

A dangerous incident occurred on the edge of a folk festival in Bavaria on Monday. A group of celebrating people were hit by a car - five of them suffered minor injuries. According to the police, the incident was not an act of terrorism, the driver is said to have had a health problem.

The police announced shortly after the incident in Großwallstadt near the border with Hesse that it was unclear whether it was an accident or whether the 58-year-old driver deliberately drove his car into the group. A police spokesman explained that the driver could have had a heart attack.

According to the investigators, it is now clear that the 58-year-old did not drive into the revelers for terrorist motives. "This is clear from the overall circumstances," said the spokesman.

Driver had to be resuscitated
Because the driver had to be resuscitated, it was initially assumed that the cause of the accident was a health problem, the police said.

However, further investigations led to the conclusion that he may have deliberately driven into the group at the church fair. "An expert was called in to clarify the course of events," it said.

The car had driven into the group in the city center in the late afternoon, who were sitting on benches and armchairs on a street belonging to the festival area.

Ten-year-old child among the accident victims
In addition to the fire department, the rescue service and a crisis intervention team were also deployed to treat the injured, one of whom was a ten-year-old child. The three-day church festival in the village in the district of Miltenberg had started on Saturday and was supposed to end on Monday evening, but was cut short